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Back in April, The Information released a report about a heretofore unknown project called Android Silver, a Google initiative that would pay OEMs to ship unskinned "stock" Android on their high-end phones. That sounds great for people who have to deal with slow software updates and wonky UI skins, but it came with a catch: Android Silver would apparently mean the end of the long-running Nexus program, which has given developers and enthusiasts pretty good hardware with Google-managed software for years now.

This week at Google I/O, Google engineering director and Nexus program manager David Burke cast some doubt on that report. ReadWrite has already run an interview with Burke in which he says the program isn't going anywhere, and he reiterated that point in our own conversation with him yesterday. He also shed more light on where the Nexus program fits in amid other stock Android initiatives like the Google Play edition program and Android One (and, one presumes, Android Silver).

Updating Nexus hardware

"The whole idea of Nexus was, we did it for two reasons: one is to actually have a physical device that we're working with, but the other was sort of like a statement of purity," Burke told Ars. "It's like, here's how when we were designing Android and creating different frameworks and APIs and user experience, here's how we think it should look. It's a starting point. And so we're experimenting with different ways of doing that and getting the word out so more people can see it, so Android One is a really good example of that."

Of the Nexus program specifically, Burke was adamant that development of Android would be much more difficult without Nexus hardware to test against.

Further Reading

"I think of my team, and there's two outputs: there's the open-source code we make available and everyone uses, and then there's Nexus devices, and there's no way I could do open-source code without a Nexus device," Burke said. "You just can't get all the bugs, you can't actually experience it, you've got to live and breathe it day-in and day-out... So the idea of a Nexus device will never go away, can't ever go away... So I think Nexus continues to be very important for Android."

Burke also said that the team would continue to release new versions of Android alongside new Nexus hardware, as has become customary. "I don't see why we would change that," he said. "Otherwise, if there was no Nexus device, I'd have to launch something on existing Nexus devices, and eventually in a couple years those devices would be out of date and then what do I do? I wouldn't be able to be sure that when I was open-sourcing code that it would actually work."

There has been much handwringing about the ultimate fate of the Nexus program since The Information's report was published, but we already know that Google and HTC are planning a new Nexus device—current rumors indicate that it will be a tablet and that it will launch alongside the final version of Android's L release. Android Police published a report about that tablet earlier this month—it's fairly detailed, but their sources contradict one another on points like the screen's aspect ratio and the tablet's construction.

Updating Nexus software

Our talk with Burke shed some light on some more obscure topics too, including the lack of an Android 4.4 update for the Galaxy Nexus. Google's official line was that the company only supports hardware for 18 months after release, which it still mentions in its official Nexus update support document. As was speculated at the time, though, the decision was tied to Texas Instruments' exit from the consumer SoC market (TI's OMAP chip powered the Galaxy Nexus as well as other prominent Android-based hardware like the first Kindle Fires).

"It was a really extraordinary event," he said. "You had a silicon company exit the market, there was nobody left in the building to talk to."

We also asked about compatibility for the L release. The Nexus 5 and 2013 Nexus 7 already have developer images so they'll obviously be supported, but every other Nexus device that runs 4.4 is running up against that 18 month window. He wouldn't say which current Nexus devices will get the L release, but he did say that Google will try to support Nexus hardware for as long as is realistically possible.

"You know, it's tricky because we're trying to move the platform forward quickly and we make pretty significant changes," Burke told Ars. "It's hard for older chips. People have businesses and they need to focus on the next thing. If you try to support everything and you're a chipset company, you're just going to have this huge amount of baggage that slows you down... It's a balance, and everyone has to figure out what the right balance is moving forward... With Nexus we do try to keep all our updates going, we try to balance it. Adding the cool stuff, without leaving stuff behind."

He also enlightened us as to why devices like the Galaxy Nexus, 2012 Nexus 7, and Nexus 10 don't officially support Bluetooth 4.0, even though the hardware itself is capable of it—Bluetooth LE was introduced in Android 4.3 and is crucial to extending battery life in devices like Android Wear smartwatches. Burke explained that supporting new wireless standards in devices often requires those devices to be re-certified by the FCC and other regulatory bodies. In the case of those specific devices, Google decided against recertifying them in the countries that required it, and decided not to support the feature in some countries but not in others. He assured us that Bluetooth 4.1, a new feature in the L release, wouldn't run into similar certification troubles in devices that already support 4.0.

The main takeaway is that Google remains committed to updating Nexus hardware and software. It's possible that Google could move to testing on OEM devices for Android development rather than Nexus devices, but at least for now, the program isn't going anywhere. "I still look after the Nexus team, so I still have a job," Burke said.

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Andrew Cunningham
Andrew wrote and edited tech news and reviews at Ars Technica from 2012 to 2017, where he still occasionally freelances; he is currently a lead editor at Wirecutter. He also records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites